Coral Princess Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Thank you for a wonderful cruise.  It was everything we expected and more.  From the first moment to the last the ship's crew treated us with a gracious attitude and were always willing to help.  The excursions were well planned and excellent guides offered history lessons, colorful stories, and facts about all the sites.  Meals were prepared to perfection in the dining rooms.  The buffet always had a variety, however, repeated the same foods frequently, many items to taste.  The only real complaint was the pastries were dry and so so. The entertainment was perhaps the best we have seen on a cruise. Watching the NCAA football play off on the big screen on the open deck was special. Activities abounded. Happy to have chosen this cruise!

Well are second day at sea, we became a rescue boat.  We were at dinner and the captain announced man overboard procedures are in place.  Our boat turned around and one of the passengers spotted a bottled capsized and two individuals hanging on for dear life.  The sea was rough, and our ship was able to get them to safety.  They saved two lives that night, and one was lost at sea a day earlier.  Kudos to our captain and crew.  Two survivors saved that were stranded for two days at sea.

After that eventful night, the rest of our cruise was absolutely amazing.  The Panama Canal is truly an amazing sight to see.  The rainforest in Costa Rica was breathtaking and stunning.  Cartagena was absolutely full of history and culture.  I was scared to go to Columbia due to all the bad news it gets, but it was so truly an adventure. The culture there was so upbeat and lively.  Our last stop was Grand Cayman, and this island is growing.  Every time we go there, there is something new.

This cruise is truly amazing!  I highly recommend this to everyone.  The staff on the Coral Princess is very professional and very attentive to everything.  Chef Guido is truly passionate about the food he prepares for this cruise.

If you are able to or thinking about going on this cruise, go for it.  You can make it the most memorable cruise!!  There is so much history to be learned on this one.

Since I have started cruising some years ago, this is the first time that I have experienced a serious cutback in the buffet offerings.  There is some merit to this as it probably avoids a lot of waste.

As my cruise was a Holiday Cruise I expected that on New Year's eve we would have received at least a glass of champagne -- it was available but for a price.  In other words, I found Princess to be quite a stingy cruise line.

Concerning billing,  additional small charges were added which they could not account for and one of which was subsequently removed and even after settling the final bill there are two additional charges which are wrongly assigned to my bill!!

The PA system is not  audible in the hallways so there are times when announcements are missed.

There was a rescue of two fishermen in a capsized boat in the ocean.  The Captain and the crew followed all the protocols and were able to save their lives and I believe the Captain is a hero.

Despite the above comments, I would book another cruise on Princess.

My experience with the Coral Princess was not to my satisfaction, here are the issues that concerned me and my family( 6 adults) during the cruise: some of the staff were very rude especially  the servers at the Bordeaux restaurant, food was mediocre, lack of entertainment. I paid over $1000 extra for a partial view for my daughter and they gave her a room with no view at all. My son's cabin was so hot, the vent blowing only hot air, they told us it was a problem with wiring. They did come fast and partially fix it, they turned off the heating system completely and he could only have cold air. There were some really nice staff members like Melvin, bar steward, Erwin, cabin steward.

Poor organization

Lines for meals, embarking at ports.

Poor shows at princess theater, poor entertainment in general,

Food pretty good, service slow but very nice waiter (Rosaleo)

Room stewart (Candido) very nice as well as the stateroom

Generalized pluming problems, with corresponding bad aromas thru the ship.

Great job of crew at rescuing ship wreck survivors

excellent itinerary,  excellent service.  We had great time.   food and service was very good.   it would be even better to have more time at each port.  although the ship is one of the smallest we have been,  it was very cozy and has everything you would need.

   Very nice looking OLD ship, food in the main dining room was excellent! Service was as expected very good! Indoor pool was a great place to relax and was underused, hot tubs were clean and not full of screaming kids....the Panama Canal was a great experience! overall a great cruise!

    The reason for a three star rating is that our cabin (D334) kept flooding with water from broken pipes, not just a little leak in the pipes, but like a garden hose flooding the cabin at 3:30 am. the bathroom had over an inch of water in it, our clothing in the closet was wet the carpet in the entire cabin was like a sponge.....their response .... "sorry we can give you a laundry voucher to dry yoour clothing", we don't have a cabin to move you to! No real apology, just a fan in the hallway that ran all night and soggy carpet for 3 days.

   Just when we got the carpet to start drying out on day 5 another pipe broke in a different place...this time over the bed! I came in from the Lido deck to change for dinner and the furniture was stacked up on the balcony and against the wall ,and there were 6 or 7 workers tearing the ceilings out over where the bed was our shoes and belongings stacked on the empty bed frame! Now all of a sudden they had another cabin for us? My 85 year old mother who was in are suite demanded to see the Head Purser, we got an assistant....very nice , said don't touch a thing, we will move you.....what a mess!  I sent my mother down the next morning to the Pursers desk to find out what if any action would be taken, if any? He politely said that he could only offer us a 150 dollar onboard credit for the inconvenience. He said that if we were not happy with that that we could write a letter when we got home.

    Now 150 dollars is a nice gesture, but our neighbor in 335 received a 700 dollar credit for "soggy carpet"....I think there should have be a little consistency in the compensation they were offering? 

    Other than spending 1/2 a day in the laundromat, squishy carpet, not getting much sleep because of the water vacs starting up at 5:30 am in front of our cabin and the fans running in the hallway all night....It was a terrific cruise!!!!!   

Very nice cruise.  The ship is a bit tired looking in places but spotlessly clean, well maintained and comfortable.  We had a suite and an adjacent veranda stateroom.  Both were very comfortable and the layout of the suite was far superior to suites we have had on Oceania and Holland America -- particularly the split bath and the separation between the living and sleeping areas.  On both Oceania and Holland America a suite is really just a large room.  The suites on the Coral and Island Princess are designed to live as two distinct "rooms"--one for sleeping and one for entertaining.  Service was very good overall but there was a greater "push" to purchase specialty drinks and extra cost add ins than we were used to based on other cruises we have taken.  We booked the Sanctuary for the whole cruise and that eliminated the issue everywhere but the main dining room where the "hawking" of after dinner drinks was a bit too intrusive for our taste.

The ship was very nice, the cabin was very nice and the staff were excellent with the exception in the formal dining they must have been training a few new people who got some things mixed up.  I have had better where the food was concerned.  The food was so so and the buffet was the same every day and after coming back from an excursion all tired and hungry. after so long I really couldn't fathom eating the same stuff again.  The desserts left something to be desired. Nothing was really that good.  I have had better entertainment.  The ship's singers and dancers were fine for a night or two at the most, it gets tiresome, it is like watching a high school production every night.  The guest entertainers weren't the best either so we ended up watching the movies mostly.  On the 9th floor a water pipe broke and flooded a room and smelled horrible and they didn't have enough equipment to get it dried and several people were very unhappy with the whole situation and let everyone know about it.  

The itinerary was very good, some stops did seem a a bit short especially if you have never been to the country before.  Wished for more time in Cartagena.  All other stops were wonderful as a just getting to know the place.

The ship was also very good, the food was excellent.  My only complaint is the staff, some were wonderful but most were not.

The Coral Princess is a beautiful ship with real wood furnishings.  The service was excellent and the meal selection was, also.  The ease of enrolling on the ship, once we were there, was fantastic.  Also, disembarkation at the end of the cruise was noneventful and very well done.  When we returned to the ship after an excursion, workers met us with cold towels and water, which was a wonderful touch.  The captain and cruise director let us know, step by step, what was going on as our ship traveled through the locks at the Panama Canal.  This was outstanding.  There was plenty of opportunity for shopping, and the entertainment was great!  I loved this cruise and did not want to leave the ship.

The bands for dancing were excellent, the service was very good, the food was slightly below Princess 'normal standards.  Overall, however, the trip was excellent.

There was no church service which I found disappointing.

After 20 some cruises, this one took the cake.   From the first night to the end of the cruise, this one was a joke.   Had a Bal. Suite.  The metal door between the two suites banged all night keeping us from sleeping.   Email a Healthy Heart Diet to Princess's prior to cruising.   The ship did not or would not meet any of the needs.   The ship had an odor of sewage.   Was told a pile had broken.   Will rethink about cruising with Princess again.   They did nothing to help with all the problems except the banning noise.  

Joseph Hardin

Ship was only okay with entertainment, poor with the excursions, moderate with meals, and add ons to a glass of soda ridicules. This was my very first cruise and I had very high hopes based on others' cruise experiences, but was very disappointed with the overall cruise offerings. 

This cruise was absolutely wonderful. Princess handled everything with efficiency, professionalism, and grace. We were very impressed with the entertainment, food, service, attendants, steward, decorations, staff, and crew. We went to Aruba, Columbia, Panama, (the Canal of course), Costa Rica and Jamaica, with the start and finish in Ft. Lauderdale. I recommend this cruise very highly.

The Coral Princess has a great crew and make a good trip great.

We had only one complaint and that is the bath tube in the mini suite, The high wall made stepping in a problem short elderly women with a knee replacement.

It also raised the height in the shower to a head bumping experience for a 6 foot tall husband. A large walk in shower would use this space far better. The lack of details in advance is the problem since I would not have gotten the mini suite had I known.  

we had a great time seeing each of the ports as well as on the ship .

we really enjoyed the excursions we booked thru cruises only as they were great excursions in small groups so it was more personal service. Our next cruise we will book thru cruises only again.

Had a mini suite on the Coral Princess.  It was one of the smaller ships of the Princess line that I have been on but the mini suite was quite spacious.  

The passage though the Panama Canal was a bucket list for me.  Loved that Princess had a lot of opportunities to learn about the history.  On the day of passage, one of the staff named, Bill, narrated the whole passage. So interesting.

Loved Columbia-had a great tour guide.  Costa Rica was ok, too.  Nicaragua was a disappointment.  Part of our tour had to be cancelled.

The food was pretty good, although.  Many options.  The one thing I like about Princess is that many of the entrees (not like the prime rib or lobster)  they serve in the dining room; they also serve at the buffet-so if you've been at the pool and don't want to gt dressed, it's convenient.

T

Princess knows the Panama Canal and the on board expert was top notch.  We learned a great deal about the canal and the experience was a bucket list moment. The ship itself was in bad need of the dry dock that it is scheduled for in early 2016.  Specifically water pipes leaked sporadically and air conditioning in parts of the ship did not work.  Princess continues to cut back on passenger services such as dry cleaning is no longer available, lesser canapés on formal nights and a bunch of little things that add up to cheaper services.  The staff was generally less friendly than found on previous ships.  this was especially true of the pursers staff whom many passengers found patronizing and condescending.  The cleanliness of the ship was very sub par for a cruise ship.  Rest rooms were not as clean a they should be and public areas especially Lido deck areas were not promptly cleaned.  The dining room service was good and the specialty dining services were excellent.  The itinerary was OK, although most passengers did not enjoy Nicaragua.  Princess pushes its all inclusive liquor packages.  These are a value for some but create for alcohol related situations than we have observed on past cruises.

Overall 3 stars, but, if this was our first Princess Cruise it would have been our last one.  We will see if this experience is their new normal or if the next cruise is better.

This was a fabulous once in a lifetime cruise!  We were well entertained throughout the 15 day voyage by the staff and crew of Coral  Princess. The shopping excursions were fun in Aruba and Cabo and the stops in Columbia and Costa Rica were intriguing. Going through the canal was fascinating!